And more from the New Oxford Review on the overexposed Francis Effect.

DECLARATION
of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
regarding the recent gala at Mar-a-Lago.

“A large scandal has been created, as well as discouragement, upon learning the news of the gala event hosted by President Donald J. Trump for openly homosexual supporters of the Republican Party. This endorsement of LGBTQ ideology is even more serious if one considers that, only two days previously, Joe Biden signed the “Respect for Marriage Act” which recognizes the legal validity of so-called homosexual marriages in the United States, in violation of the Natural Law and also the Law of God.

The Democratic Party is totally anti-Christian and obstinately determined to implement the globalist agenda of the New World Order. On the other hand, the Republican Party is recklessly pursuing a minority of voters who are indulging in lifestyles that are contrary to the Commandments and to the common good. American Catholics find themselves today in the impossible situation of being represented by a political class that is revealing itself to be completely incapable of representing and expressing Catholic convictions in moral and religious matters. This causes voters to become disaffected, which is added to electoral fraud and scandals that are emerging about media censorship and the manipulation of electoral consensus.

Up until now, certain aspects of the political platform of the Republican Party were able to be overlooked to some extent due to the much more serious threat embodied by the Democratic Party. But it is now evident that the action of the deep state has contaminated the entire political elite without distinction, even involving Donald Trump, who up until now seemed to be a source of hope for the future of the United States.

A nation that offends the Law of God cannot hope to be blessed by the Lord, and those who support sinful lifestyles ought to think of the Judgment that awaits them rather than pleasing those who are corrupt in a calculated effort to win votes. This nonchalance in political action by Republicans is no less harmful than the open opposition to the perennial Magisterium of the Church on the part of Democrats.

I urge American Catholics to pray, asking the Lord to enlighten politicians of sound principles, urging them to fight with courageous commitment for the defense of the Natural Law and the Commandments of God.”

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America

December 20, 2022

Many Protestant Evangelicals aggrieved…

“We love all people, and all Americans have rights that need to be protected, but we cannot affirm all choices equally,” Perkins explained on “Washington Watch.” “We have to work toward what is best for society as a whole. And disassembling marriage, redefining it, and failing to acknowledge that God created male and female — that is not moving our society in a way that is beneficial to all” …. Read it all

— Rod Dreher: Totalitarianism: Can it happen here?

New Oxford Review: Pontifical Academy for What?! The Opposite of What John Paul Intended.

When Pope St. John Paul II established the Pontifical Academy for Life in 1994, he commissioned it to conduct studies and offer information and formation on “the principal problems of biomedicine and of law, relative to the promotion and defense of life, above all in the direct relation that they have with Christian morality and the directives of the Church’s Magisterium.” And that’s what the Academy did for the next two decades, promoting and defending the Church’s teaching on medical ethics, including in-vitro fertilization, gene therapy, euthanasia, and abortion.

Notable members — all of whom must be appointed by the pope — have included the late Robert Spaemann, a German Catholic ethicist; Willem Jacobus Cardinal Eijk, archbishop of Utrecht, Netherlands (who has written for the NOR); and John Finnis, permanent senior distinguished research fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture (who has also written for the NOR). The Academy’s first president was Ven. Jérôme Lejeune, the famed French geneticist who discovered the cause of Trisomy 21 and was a stalwart defender of the life of the unborn and the dignity of those born with Down syndrome.

That all came to a screeching halt once Pope Francis got involved” …. Read it all